October 2006

For more information, please contact:
Eli Briggs, Senior Government Affairs Specialist
(ebriggs@naccho.org)

Donna Brown, JD, MPH, Government Affairs Counsel
(dbrown@naccho.org)

Public Health Funding Update
The outlook for action on FY 2007 appropriations is still unclear at this time.  Congress passed a continuing resolution before the end of the fiscal year September 30 to keep the government running through November 17.  The continuing resolution funds programs in bills not completed by the start of the new fiscal year October 1 (including Labor, Health and Human Services and Education) at their current FY 2006 level or the FY 2007 level proposed by the House or Senate, whichever is lowest.

Congress plans to reconvene November 13 after the November election.  They could pass another continuing resolution at that time that would keep government programs funded through the end of the 109th Congress. 

During the spring when the House budget resolution was negotiated, House Majority Leader Boehner (R-OH) agreed to add an additional $3 billion over the $4.1 billion for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education that was added over the President’s budget number for fiscal year 2007. The resulting $7 billion would be equal to FY2006 funding, plus a 2% increase for inflation.  The additional $3 billion would help to ensure that critical public health programs are not cut in a rush to pass the bill.  NACCHO is part of a broad effort by the health and education communities to ensure that our success in mitigating damage to public health funding is not reversed at the last minute.

Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) circulated a letter to Majority Leader Boehner to urge him to provide the additional $3 billion in funding for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.  The letter obtained 23 signers.  To see if your representative signed the letter, go to http://www.naccho.org/advocacy/action/letterstocongress.cfm  Please contact your member of Congress to thank them if they signed the letter.

Senators Specter (R-PA) and Harkin (D-IA), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Health Appropriations Subcommittee, are circulating a letter to the leadership of the Senate and the Appropriations Committee.  The budget resolution passed in March by the Senate included an amendment that provided an additional $7 billion for a broad range of programs and services administered by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.  Seventy-three senators from both parties voted for this amendment.  This increase would have restored funding in fiscal year 2007 appropriations for labor, health and education programs to the fiscal year 2005 funding level. However, the fiscal year 2006 Emergency Supplemental bill contained a "deeming resolution" that forced the Senate to make significant spending cuts in domestic programs. As a result, on July 20th, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill that is $2 billion short of the fiscal year 2005 level, effectively ignoring the intent of the Senate expressed in the budget resolution.

NACCHO, in collaboration with many other public health and education organizations, is pressing hard for the $2 billion to be added to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.  It is not too late to ask your senators to sign on to this letter. For a letter you can send to your senators, go to http://capwiz.com/naccho/home/.  Thank you to all NACCHO members who have contacted their members of Congress to urge them to sign on to one of these letters.

Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization Update
Legislation to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act has been passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and House Energy and Commerce Committees.  At press time it was unclear whether any further action will take place this year to move the bill forward.

During the markup in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one amendment was added to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 (HR 6143):

• Representative Towns (D-NY) offered an amendment that was agreed to by voice vote to add to the list of eligible entities for Title III, community-based organizations, clinics, hospitals, and other health facilities that provide early intervention services to those persons infected with HIV/AIDS through intravenous drug use. 
  
• Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) asked and received assurances that the following issues would be clarified in committee report language attached to the bill: medical case management is not a provider or site specific service; the list of support services is not inclusive and that others will be allowable; and, that requesting a waiver for unobligated funds will not make an entity ineligible for supplemental funds. 
  
• Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA) also received assurance that the importance of linguistic services would be included in report language. 

NACCHO Meets with White House Budget Officials
NACCHO Executive Director Pat Libbey and staff met in mid-October with officials of the White House Office on Management and Budget who are responsible for preparing the President’s FY 2008 budget for public health and for overseeing HHS policy on behalf of the White House.  At their request, NACCHO discussed the local health department perspective on public health preparedness, particularly for pandemic influenza, which continues to garner high-level attention in the Administration.  A key point was that HHS and Department of Homeland Security approaches to preparedness meet, and sometimes conflict, at the local level, and that preparedness activities continue to take a toll on resources for other local public health activities that must still continue.  NACCHO also emphasized the need for a deliberate, sustained national approach to public health workforce shortages, which are expected to grow increasingly acute in coming years.

Mid-term Election Outlook
The mid-term election on November 7 could change the balance of power in Congress, with control of the House or the Senate possibly shifting to the Democrats.  NACCHO will be monitoring the election results and reporting about implications for public health issues in the 110th Congress.

***Remember to visit http://capwiz.com/naccho/home/ for all the latest legislative news from Washington.***